One Virginia Family, Six Generations Of Daughters

Starting with a new 16-year-old mom and ending with a great-great-great-grandmother, one Virginia family will have plenty of moms to celebrate this Mother's Day, ABC News reports.

From the family's matriarch, Mollie Wood, who celebrated her 111th birthday in April, to 7-week-old Braylin Higgins -- the child of Wood's great-great-granddaughter -- the family has an amazing six generations of daughters.

The women of this close-knit family said that it is both an "ornery" disposition and self-sufficiency that has bolstered the family's longevity.

“They’re just all tough old birds,” said Dan Goodman, husband of 70-year-old Bette Goodson, Mollie Wood's granddaughter. "I’m not talking about being mean, but they can take on a challenge, and surprise you."

ABC reports that this independent attitude has extended to Savannah Shifflett, the 16-year-old mother of baby Braylin.

“My daughter has not asked for help,” Marlo Shifflett, Savannah's mother and Wood's great-granddaughter, said. “And I thought, ‘Where does she get that from?’ And I realized we’re all that way.”

Though the family said they were devastated when they found out that Savannah was going to have a child, the women say the baby has made them even closer.

“She definitely wasn’t planned, but she’s my world," Savannah, who is engaged to Braylin's father, said.

All six generations of her family were there last month to celebrate Wood's 111th birthday, Newsplex reports.

Photographer Christian Debaun was on hand to capture the moment.

Debaun, who has lived next to Wood's 88-year-old daughter Louise Minter for more than a decade, said the super-centenarian -- the oldest resident of Charlottesville, Va. -- is a "wonderful woman" who is still "sharp eyed" and "keenly aware of the people around her."

"There has not been a mother-daughter picture taken of the two of them in I think 20, 30 years. So the ultimate purpose was to go over and photograph the two of them together," he said on Newsplex.com.

"May we all be so lucky someday," he wrote in his Facebook album featuring Wood and her family.

Read the full ABC News story here and for more of Christian Debaun's photography, visit his website.

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Comments

[MHB48]

07:54 AM on 05/16/2012

This story REALLY makes me smile. That is truely impressive...and wonderful. The hands...makes me tear up.

[pattio66]

09:18 AM on 05/14/2012

Awesome! It's so rare to have a five generation photo, but to have six is phenomenal! My fiance's grandmother turned 100 on Christmas Day; most of her descendants were able to make it to IL for a celebration of her first century. We all took many photos of her with her first great-great-grandchild and all generational configurations in between. Though she passed away in March, we have those photos to document her life to future generations. Blessings to the Woods family, may their lives be filled with the unique joy of having and loving a large extended family!

[Eileen Carman]

01:26 AM on 05/14/2012

we got photos like that one of the oldest and youngest females in our family and YES my grandmother was lying in her bed because at 90 she could no longer sit up and the baby was only about the same age as that baby. The baby was not 5 generations removed as in this photo, only 4.

[Christian DeBaun]

09:00 PM on 05/13/2012

I was the photographer for this project, and I was given the fantastic opportunity to know this family over the last 10 years. They are a lovely and loving family, and some of the kindest and sweetest people I have ever met in my photographic career.

I visited my neighbor Louise Minter (Mollie Wood's daughter) tonight, and the family has been distraught by some of the hateful comments on this forum. (Now) In hindsight, I am wishing that I had never supplied the photos. The family is heartsick over some of the comments.

The world is better place when we extend an open hand instead a closed fist.

Chris.

[giddalti]

10:34 PM on 05/13/2012

Please tell the beautiful family that the cruel comments are no reflection on them, but on the people who make such comments. We would all be very blessed indeed to be able to see six generations of our family come together as they have been blessed to see. God bless each one of them.

[pattio66]

09:34 AM on 05/14/2012

Chris - I don't care what other posters here say. Your photos are beautiful and I'm sure they'll be treasured by the family for generations forward. As I've been flipping through the comments, I've found many rude ones, yes. But most are expressing delight and congratulations to the Woods family. Please let the family know we're not all hateful.

[peskime]

07:50 PM on 05/13/2012

Babies having babies, so sad

[Amy Lynn Reel]

05:41 PM on 05/13/2012

I know this family and they are fine people. For all of you who choose to judge the 16 year old, shame on you. I admire that she is courageous enough to raise her child and not take the easy way out. How dare you all, you ought to be ashamed.

[peskime]

07:58 PM on 05/13/2012

Telling other people not to be judgmental while being judgmental yourself is the height of hypocrisy.
Being a teen mother is NOTHING to be proud of and implying that someone who chooses to say not get pregnant, choose adoption or get an abortion is NO MORE your business than anyone else's who post on this board. People are entitled to their opinions

[Amy Lynn Reel]

08:15 AM on 05/14/2012

I wasn't judging anyone....as a matter of fact, shame on you means basically, examine yourself before you cast the first stone.

[Christian DeBaun]

09:29 PM on 05/13/2012

Thank you Amy. You are kind of heart.

[Amy Lynn Reel]

08:22 AM on 05/14/2012

You're welcome! Thank you for running this piece. The people on here act as if no one 16 years old has ever had a child. I'd be willing to bet that if they traced their own genealogy, there is most certainly a 16 year old somewhere that contributed to their existence. I don't know, just sickening that they take things and twist them the way that they do to fit their own agenda.

[nordland03]

12:57 PM on 05/13/2012

to heck with the haters - at least the 16 year old kept her child and is obviously raising her just fine. I think it is wonderful the family still takes care of their 111 year old blessing. I have hardly any family so there will never be more than 2 or 3 generations in any one picture and I think this is a genuine blessing for all involved. Good luck , love and blessings to you all - take all the photos you can because one day that will be all you have and those memories are more precious that any silly, ugly or mean comments on here. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to you all!!

[FloB]

12:56 PM on 06/02/2012

I join you. My family has consistently had children later in life after finishing school and getting jobs then waiting a few years after marriage. The good result is rare divorces. The sad part, only two generations at one time. I had no grandparents, my kids had one grand parent for three years. So far, no change 34 and 25 year old sons, 34 year old niece and 28 and 20 year old nephews, none married, no third generation. At Christmas we never need more than a dining room and a card table, but I do miss having a larger family at times.

[Diana Emily Perez]

11:56 AM on 05/13/2012

Love how all of you are celebrating a 16 year olds pregnancy...

[Amy Lynn Reel]

05:30 PM on 05/13/2012

Shut Up!

[Amy Lynn Reel]

05:30 PM on 05/13/2012

Shut up Diana...you are ignorant!

[Carol Glenn]

11:24 AM on 05/13/2012

we have a five generation in our family, my mom is 87, my sister is 62, her daughter is 41, her daughter is 22, and the baby is 3 months.

[nordland03]

01:00 PM on 05/13/2012

I think that is so special :)

[jantuoferm]

01:49 PM on 05/13/2012

That's so nice. Happy Mothers Day!

[cobaltmuscle]

10:34 AM on 05/13/2012

An impressionable carbon foot print !!

[ChiBos]

11:35 AM on 05/13/2012

You could always take yourself out of the game to compensate if you're that concerned about their carbon foot print

[Chrismoo3]

08:56 AM on 05/13/2012

What a treasure those pictures are. Happy Mother's Day!

[Mr Me]

08:01 AM on 05/13/2012

Great story! Happy Mothers Day!

[firstamendment3]

06:51 AM on 05/13/2012

I wonder if the youngest was encouraged to get pregnant so that they could enjoy their 15 minutes of shame?

[Hippy422]

08:03 AM on 05/13/2012

Sure she was! Since they could see into the future and know she was having a girl before she even got pregnant it just made sense, didn't it? What a silly, thoughtless and inflammatory comment you made, firstamendment3. Come on.....

[firstamendment3]

08:17 AM on 05/13/2012

You're probably on to something.  Are you suggesting that abortion was used in gender selection?

[Michele L Kirby]

10:25 AM on 05/13/2012

I could not of said it better myself!!!!!Thanks for saying that to her or him they definitely deserved it....

[Amy Lynn Reel]

05:32 PM on 05/13/2012

You are an idiot.....I know these people and no, she did NOT do it on purpose. Did you even read the article? Obviously not.

[george9448]

03:56 AM on 05/13/2012

As an amateur genealogist, I loved the multi-generation photo.